Garden Draughts

Garden Draughts

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Price:£45.99

This game of garden draughts is a very simple and easy game for child and adults of all ages to play, that combines the use of both logic and strategy. Giving many hours of fun and pleasure, this very popular and favourite game is now available to play outside in the smallest of gardens.

The set contains a plastic playing mat which is 1.2m x 1.2m, making this set big enough for all the family to enjoy yet compact enough that these garden draughts has been packed up and taken with you to the park or beach.

Draughts, which is also known as Checkers, is a game played between two people on a draughts board made up of 64 squares with alternating colours (Black and White) using 24 Draught discs (12 for each player). One player has the Black discs and the other the White discs.

The object of the game is to jump and remove (eliminate) all of your opponent's Draught discs or to create a situation in which it is impossible for your opponent to make any move. In most cases victory normally occurs due to the complete elimination of your opponent's discs.

Garden Draughts Dimms:

* Carrying Box: 32 x 22 x 16 cms (1' 1" x 8¾" x 6¼")* Weight: 1.2 kgs

Our garden draughts is just part of our large range of Garden Games and Giant Garden Games that will give many hours of fun for all the family, so why not take a look and see what else you might like playing.

The Rules of Playing Draughts:

The History of Draughts:

The origins of Draughts (or Checkers as it is known in America) although a game known and played by most people, might surprise most people as it is thought through carbon dating it can trace its roots back to around 3000 BC. It is thought that the earliest form of Draughts was discovered during an Archaeological dig in Iraq. However, the game then used a slightly different board, different number of pieces and was played with no one being sure of the exact rules.

It is widely thought that the rules of Draughts were originally based on a game known as Alquerque, a popular game of its time that could be found in ancient Egypt. This game which had a 5 x 5 board was a common and much played game and because of its popularity was played all over the western world for thousands of years and can be traced by historians as far back as 1400 BC.

Around 1100 AD a Frenchman got the idea of playing Draughts on a Chess board. But by doing this it meant that number of pieces on each side had to be expanded to 12. This form of a Draughts game was called "Fierges" of "Fers" and continued to be played using the basic and same rules of the Alquerque game.

In this earlier version of Draughts, there was no rule to say that a draught piece at risk had to "Jumped" or "Captured", so the player could refuse to capture an opponent's draught for tactical reasons.

In around 1530 AD it was found that by making jumps mandatory made the game more challenging and was then introduced to the game of Draughts. This meant that if an attacking draught missed the opportunity to capture the "at risk piece", it could be penalized by being "Huffed" and removed from the board. This is a distinctive feature of the modern game of draughts although "huffing" was actually a feature of Alquerque which for some reason had been largely ignored in the development of early draughts.

The French called this version "Jeu Force" - something that we can associate with the modern game of Draughts. At the same time it was thought that because the older version was considered more of a social game for women, that they called this version "Le Jeu Plaisant De Dames"

Now the rules for Draughts had been set and the game was exported to England and America. Draughts games that are played in England and American are played based upon the 16th century "Jeu Force" rules, however some European countries continued to play draughts based upon the "Le Jeu Plaisant" game.

It is widely thought and observed that the first books written about Draughts were written in Spain as early as the mid 1500s. The first book about draughts to be written in English was by a mathematician called William Payne who in 1756 wrote which was the first of many books to be written about Draughts in the 18th Century.

In the years to follow, and after this change in the rules of Draughts, the game increased in its popularity and in 1847 saw the first world championship take place. And even today Draughts remains a popular game that can be played and enjoyed at many levels by everyone.

Delivery Postcodes and Additional Surcharges:

Standard Delivery of this product which is included in our price is to Mainland England, Wales and most of Scotland (see below) and is on a 3 - 5 working day service. Additional carriage charges apply to delivery areas outside of these areas and can be found below along with the expected delivery service. Delivery to these other areas is normally between 3 - 5 working days but please allow up to 5 working days.